Roman Robroek
For our latest TuuumRooom feature we tried something new. Artist connector Raluca Dumitrescu interviewed one of the artists she invited to join Tuuum: Roman Robroek. Check out Roman’s work at his Tuuum profile page.
Raluca Dumitrescu: Can you please tell us in a couple of words what (urban) decay photography refers to?
Roman Robroek: It’s finding, exploring, and documenting abandoned buildings through photography.
R. D.: What’s your background and how does it relate to your work?
R. R.: I am actually an IT Team and Service manager, which at first sight has nothing to do with my artistic work. However, it depends on how you look at it. My job is quite stressful, so I am constantly seeking for ways to relax. Exploring - in complete silence - abandoned buildings which are mostly located in tiny villages spread all over Europe offers me that relaxing feeling I am looking for.
R. D.: What themes do you pursue in your art?
R. R.: I have a preference for shooting abandoned castles or churches. I find them both very powerful and I always feel overwhelmed when I discover their interiors. A church is a place where people seeking for ‘something’ usually gathered, and this makes me feel privileged when I visit it. The same goes for a castle - it is often an unreachable place, which makes looking behind closed doors even more exciting.
This photograph depicts a church in small village in Italy. A Dark And Holy Place, 2015
R. R.: The original church dates back to the 15th century and is built in Italy. After many repairs, the church was intentionally destroyed at the end of the 19th century, in order to be rebuilt. Building, decorating and painting took over 50 years. Right after World War II, cracks started to appear. Around the 80’s, the church was closed, as it had been barely used. In 2009, after a petition was signed to save it, a project designed to restore it to its former glory was launched. However, it still has a very long way to go. The last project meeting seems to have taken place in 2013.
The church is located almost 900 m high on a hill, and driving is slow and difficult due to the road’s bad condition. On top of the hill there is a small village with only a few houses - such an impressive scenery. I enjoyed the view and the surroundings for quite some time. It was truly a unique experience.
R. D.: Do you have any preferences (e.g. architectural styles, historical periods the sites date from) when it comes to choosing your locations?
R. R.: I love Baroque, Art Nouveau, and Art Deco, but there isn’t really a style that doesn’t interest me. The challenge is to create something interesting from whatever I see.
However, locations that date back from the Middle Ages generate an extra kind of excitement. The touch of the simplest thing such as a wooden bar that’s been used to create a building from the Middle Ages, sends me shivers down my spine. I have a lot of respect for any kind of abandoned buildings, but those from the Middle Ages are something special to me due to the historical value of that period.
R. D.: How do you think that the financial value of a building relates to its aesthetic value? What role do you think urban decay photography plays in this?
R. R.: I bet that it differs from person to person, but I personally don’t care at all about the financial value of a building, and therefore I see no relationship with its aesthetic value. Every abandoned building has its own kind of beauty - most of them are not even for sale, so I see it as my job to reveal that beauty. No matter how small, ‘cheap’ or decayed the building might be. My fellow photographers and I try our hardest to - metaphorically - remove the dust off these abandoned building, and I believe that this is one of the important roles that urban decay photography plays.
In my opinion, the historical value of a site relates much more to its aesthetic value, including the manpower that was invested in creating it. Walking around in a castle where a king from hundreds of years ago slept for a few nights, where important decisions were taken - such as war strategies - or where people put so much effort in designing a certain drawing on the ceiling, is definitely something that makes my heart skip a beat.
A very wealthy family bought this villa with an immense garden, in the 19th century Italy. The villa is located on an area with many other abandoned buildings, which were part of a medical complex that was shut down at the end of the 20th century. The Last Piano, 2015
R. D.: What do you think the existence of so many ruins says about our relationship as a society with our past? How is this different in the countries you have traveled to?
R. R.: I think that our relationship with the past is fading away. People who care about old, abandoned buildings are harder to find. Sometimes I run into a foundation whose mission is to preserve old buildings, but that happens quite rarely.
However, there are a few differences between the countries I have traveled to. I live in The Netherlands, where it’s considerably hard to find a properly decayed building. The process of restoring or ‘recycling’ old buildings goes very fast here - the old ones are often demolished and replaced by the new, modern ones. The Dutch waste no time, nor space. It is such a huge difference between the Netherlands and other countries, such as Belgium or Italy.
I tend to believe that Belgium has more abandoned then occupied buildings, haha. They have, as far as I know, a different set of rules which make buildings more financially ‘interesting’ if not destroyed. In the actual economy, this results in nature claiming them and creating beautiful scenes.
Italy is by far my favourite country to explore and that’s also where I run into the most NGOs that protect old buildings. In general, Italians seem to really care and cherish their buildings’ historical value. Recently I came across more and more restorations of beautiful abandoned buildings. It makes me very happy to see that abandoned buildings become habitable again, instead of being destroyed and replaced with something new.
This photograph depicts one of the hallways of a huge building that is part of medical complex built at the end of the 19th century in Germany. Hallway of Decay, 2014
The compound was designed by the best architects of that time, and it had luxurious balconies, hallways, and platforms. The maximum number of patients (mostly poor and old people with lung tuberculoses) that the space allowed to take in was 600, but soon the capacity had to be doubled. Patients were living in different buildings, depending on their gender. Staff buildings were also separated. For example, the laundry and kitchen were in the wing inhabited by females, while the boiler house was in the wing populated by men.
Within 25 years more than 115.000 patients were treated here. In the World Wars, the complex had been used as a military hospital for the German army. Even Adolf Hitler was treated here with an injured leg, in 1916. Unfortunately, some parts of the complex werecompletely destroyed during the war.
Immediately after the World War II the Russians took over the compound and it soon became known as the largest Russian military hospital outside Russia. In that time, the hospital underwent a couple of interior changes, which are noticeable even today.
In 1994, the last patients left the clinic. For years people could walk around freely, but since a few deadly accidents happened, access has been restricted. Scenes of a few well known movies have been filmed here - Valkyrie, The Pianist, and Sick House. Nowadays, the old entry post of the complex is being used as a bistro. Other parts of the compound have been renovated.
Nevertheless, most of the complex is not in use, and is thus quickly decaying.
R. D.: If you could, would you like to have lived in the period when the sites you are photographing were in a good state and functional? If yes, why? If not, why not?
R. R.: I would not, as it’s the combination between decay, nature taking over a building, and the building itself that makes the site so interesting to me. I do like though to see pictures of what the buildings looked like when they were still in use, but that’s only to make a comparison with their current situation. A building without decay is much less interesting to me.
R. D.: What is your dream project?
R. R.: I have a few actually. I’d love to visit the Chernobyl site. I believe there is so much emotion and sadness ‘locked’ on that site, so much decay, and so much history to show through photos, which makes it one of my dream projects. The other two dream projects include visits to Japan and America. I would love to see a few abandoned pearls in these countries, such as theme parks and theaters.
R. D.: What are your biggest work challenges and how do you deal with them? How do you navigate the business side of things?
R. R.: One of my biggest challenges is to differentiate myself from other photographers that shoot the same theme. I try to visit non-regular locations further from home, and I am constantly looking for that different point of view I was talking about earlier - what angle to use and how to process the photograph in a unique way.
The business side of things is also challenging. In general, the community of urban photographers doesn’t appreciate it when someone seeks publicity with his or her work, since this draws attention to our hobby, informing more people of its existence. Experience has taught us that the more people know about it, the more places get vandalised or closed, which makes us unable to visit them. Therefore I barely do any publicity and depend on word of mouth to get my work out in the world. Other than that, I cooperate with art galleries and exhibit my photographs.
This shot of a piano is taken in an abandoned castle, in a very rich neighbourhood in France. Right next to a few fancy villas, this beautiful building is unfortunately waiting for destruction. The whole place is decayed and the piano is one of the few objects, together with an amazing billiard table and a few chairs, that were left inside. Music, Maestro! 2013
R. D.: What camera and lens do you use?
R. R.: I am shooting with a Canon EOS 650d and a Canon 10-18mm lens for my urban photos. For detail shots, I sometimes use a Canon 50mm lens.
R. D.: One last question - if you could relate your work to a book, a movie or a song, what would that be?
R. R.: I’ve been thinking about an answer for this question for a long time and I found it quite hard. I see myself going on an adventure - I try to find abandoned locations and I work hard to enter and explore them. I could then relate my experience to Dan Brown’s books (e.g. The Da Vinci Code and Inferno). It all comes down to one big puzzle about exploring abandoned buildings and revealing their historical value.
This is a small room in a hospital dating from the late 19th century in Italy and used to treat the mentally ill. Its doors closed at the end of the 20th century. It is a massive building with many rooms, details, and decay. Sit Down And Relax, 2015